“Ah… Jihoon oppa…”
She suddenly thought of Baek Jihoon. Memories of the four years spent struggling alongside him surfaced.
“Ah, oppa. Just hold on a bit longer. No, I’m about to become an S-Rank Hunter, you know? Then we can all live happily together.”
“We’re almost there. Oppa should not take a break just because it’s the weekend.”
“Ugh… Oppa, why are you slacking off after doing so well until now? You need to try harder.”
She recalled how she had urged him on.
“Ugh… Damn it… Why did I do that?”
Just moments ago, seeing Lee Sooah and Yoo Hana had suddenly shifted her thoughts.
“No. Seriously, what are Lee Sooah and Yoo Hana doing? Why are they suddenly inserting themselves?”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
She started pounding on the wall again, feeling her anger rise.
“No!” Bang.
“Why?” Bang.
“Lee Sooah!” Bang.
“Yoo Hana!” Bang.
“Why are they butting in between me and oppa?!” Kwang!
She couldn’t hold back her fury. She had thought it would be easy.
“Ugh… It hurts…”
She clenched her hand into a fist. If she were still an S-Rank, this wouldn’t have been a big deal. But now, she was just an E-Rank Hunter.
“It’s okay… If I can charm Jihoon oppa again…”
Getting Baek Jihoon back. She thought it shouldn’t be too difficult. Over the years, she had easily trained him.
But now, Lee Sooah and Yoo Hana had suddenly wedged themselves between them.
“Ugh… Even ordinary women are annoying, but it had to be Lee Sooah and Yoo Hana. They’re S-Rank Hunters.”
She bit her lip in frustration, feeling extremely vexed. The difficulty level had shot up tenfold.
“I didn’t even get to talk to him today. No, I couldn’t even approach him.”
She recalled the face of Lee Sooah, who had stuck to Baek Jihoon and looked down on her disdainfully.
“Just how close have they gotten in just a week to be practically interlocking arms?”
Right now, Chae Suhyeon’s mind was in utter chaos. Her feelings for Baek Jihoon intertwined with those for Lee Sooah and Yoo Hana.
“Ugh… I admit I may have mistreated Jihoon oppa a bit… I was too focused on immediate gains and hurried him…”
She slowly began to mend her mindset. When she had considered herself the overwhelmingly superior one, she had had no reason to care about others. But now, the situation had changed drastically.
She felt that the power dynamics were shifting beneath her.
“Hmmm…”
After a long time, she opened her status window.
“Ah… Tsk…”
Her enchantment level regarding Baek Jihoon had dropped significantly to just 92%.
“Moreover…”
[ Nice Guy ]
[ He tends to agree to a woman’s requests without much consideration. ]
A red tag was affixed to Baek Jihoon.
[ There isn’t much time left. It will soon disappear. ]
Especially the reason she had been able to easily manipulate him was that it was running out.
“Ah… If that disappears, it’s going to be really troublesome.”
She felt a sense of urgency. The traits that were advantageous to her were gradually diminishing.
“Could it be that the nice guy trait activated for Lee Sooah or Yoo Hana?”
She narrowed her eyes slightly. Up until now, she had completely monopolized Baek Jihoon. She had never thought he would glance at other women. She had kept him so close that other women wouldn’t even think of approaching him. She hadn’t given anyone that opportunity.
But in just one week, after letting him go, Baek Jihoon seemed to have charmed two S-Rank Hunters.
“Ugh… What’s going on? Is he turning into a Casanova?”
Chae Suhyeon’s expression grew darker. Considering Baek Jihoon’s traits, he would inevitably become the nice guy showering points on others.
And if he continued to repeat that?
It would be as if he had become a Casanova.
“Not. Allowed.”
She resolutely shouted in her mind. If the current situation repeated itself, it was obvious what would happen.
“All S-Rank Hunters nationwide will flock to Jihoon oppa.”
That could absolutely not happen. She had to ensure that she alone could monopolize Baek Jihoon.
“Ugh. How did it come to this? I seriously misjudged the situation.”
Thinking about it now, Baek Jihoon was quite a treasure. An extremely important person. Yet, she had so easily let him slip through her fingers while focusing too much on the immediate benefits.
“It’s my fault. I let Jihoon oppa go so easily. And in that gap of just one week, Lee Sooah and Yoo Hana stuck to him? Ugh. What a foolish girl I am!”
Chae Suhyeon slammed her head against the wall. She felt like she wanted to hit her head hard enough to burst it open.
She regretted letting go of the valuable catch so easily.
“This is bad. I need to quickly… bring Jihoon oppa back to my side…”
Suddenly, the door burst open.
“Suhyeon.”
Lee Jinhyeok entered.
“Are you okay? I heard a banging sound on the wall repeatedly.”
He looked at her with a worried expression.
“Oh, I’m fine. Just… thinking about some stuff…”
Chae Suhyeon forced a smile, pretending to be good-natured as she looked at Lee Jinhyeok.
“Hmm, you seem to be a bit better?”
“Uh-huh…”
“Don’t you think you should go to the Hunter Assessment Center to see if there are any other issues?”
“Hmm? No, no. That’s unnecessary.”
Chae Suhyeon raised both hands and shook them in refusal.
“If I go now, I’ll definitely drop to E-Rank, and there’s no reason to do that. Are you crazy?”
She was quite adamant.
“By the way, oppa.”
“Yes?”
“Is there anyone you’re trying to recruit from the Baekho Guild?”
“Hmm… We operate a secret scout team, you know? Typically, we contact them from behind the scenes… for smaller guilds, we just buy them outright.”
He spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Hmm~ So, what if I wanted to recruit someone from the Blue Guild?”
“The Blue Guild? Is there anyone worth recruiting there? Maybe someone like Lee Sooah? The others don’t seem that impressive.”
“Ugh… Not Lee Sooah.”
The mention of Lee Sooah made Chae Suhyeon frown.
“Ah, right. Since you’ve been sidelined by her. It seems like there’s no one else to bring in.”
“No, I’m just asking, what would you do if there was someone you really wanted to take from the Blue Guild?”
“What would I do? I’d just offer money and a higher position to lure them in. Or find out their weaknesses and threaten to expose them. There aren’t many options.”
Lee Jinhyeok looked at her as if questioning why she was asking such things.
“Okay, I get it. For now…”
Lee Jinhyeok left.
“Hmmm… Weaknesses…”
“Ugh… I have to get Jihoon oppa out of the Blue Guild…”
Chae Suhyeon’s mind was entirely occupied with thoughts of Baek Jihoon. She believed that somehow separating him from Lee Sooah was her only chance of winning.
“It’s complicated. I need to leverage the power of the Baekho Guild to draw him away from the Blue Guild. Once I do, I’ll be able to bring him back to my side.”
She abruptly stood up, starting to ponder various strategies regarding the Baekho Guild.
*
Tap, tap, tap.
Lee Sooah entered the office, looking quite tense.
“Um, is this Lee Sooah, Hunter? Are you feeling unwell today?”
“Manager Cha.”
“Yes?”
“It seems we need to start working harder from today onward.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean the Hunter Class 6. I haven’t paid much attention to them until now, have I?”
“Ah…?”
Manager Cha began to sweat profusely.
“What in the world is she going to say?”
For years, Hunter Class 6 had been striving to catch Lee Sooah’s eye. But now that she seemed to be noticing them, it was becoming increasingly burdensome.
“So from today, I plan to be more active. I’m going to reorganize the department, and we are going to focus on operating Team A rigorously with Hunter Class 6 at the center.”
Lee Sooah’s expression turned quite fierce.
“W-why…?”
Manager Cha looked as if this was not at all what he had wanted.
He looked somewhat taken aback, hesitating slightly.
“Why do you ask? I know that Hunter Class 6 has been working hard, wanting to engage with me. I’m offering them an opportunity as a reward for their support. Plus, I need to reclaim the top S-Rank position.”
Her determination was very evident.
“Ugh… I understand…”
Manager Cha read the atmosphere and realized to some extent what was happening.
“And we’ve encountered a significant threat to our Team A.”
“What do you mean?”
“Another guild is trying to recruit Baek Jihoon.”
“Excuse me?”
He had a look on his face that indicated he didn’t quite understand.
“Why? He’s just a D-Rank Hunter, isn’t he?”
“Uh… I can’t go into details, but I think we need to strengthen the protection protocols regarding Baek Jihoon. Please keep an eye on him in Hunter Class 6.”
Lee Sooah looked straight at Manager Cha with an expectant expression.
“Yes… of course…”
*
“Wait, Baek Jihoon?”
“Yes.”
Manager Cha’s voice sounded somewhat excited, and it was evident from the morning.
“What’s going on?”
“Uh… Jihoon, did you cause any trouble?”
“Excuse me?”
This was naturally a confusing question.
“Was there anything unusual last night?”
He was looking at him skeptically.
“What the…? How much does he know? Has he figured out that Chae Suhyeon, Yoo Hana, and Lee Sooah came over to my house yesterday…?”
It seemed there were quite a few people from the Blue Guild.
Someone in their area may have seen something.
“No, it seems that Hunter Lee Sooah has changed a lot today… Hmm… In my opinion, it looks like a love rivalry. Right? Jihoon, are you perhaps dating multiple girls…?”
He glared suspiciously.
“No, not at all.”
“He seems to know this intuitively.”
I couldn’t help but wonder how he even got promoted to manager in the first place.
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